In the recent years, there has been an increasing concern about global warming. As a result, several chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's) that are known to have an adverse environmental impact have been removed from the marketplace. In their place, new compounds have been introduced as flooding agents, streaming agents, blowing agents, propellants, and refrigerants. However, some of these new compounds do not meet environmental safety requirements. Consequently, there is a constant need to develop fluorocarbon compounds, especially hydrofluorocarbons, which have no chlorine. Two hydrofluorocarbons that are known to have desirable properties are pentafluoroethane (HFC-125) and heptafluoropropane (HFC-227).
HFC-125 is a valuable hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) that is especially useful as a refrigerant, blowing agent, propellant, or fire-extinguishing agent. HFC-125 can be prepared by a multi-step process starting with fluorination of tetrachloroethene (C2Cl4). The end products of the multi-step process include a mixture containing HFC-125, chloropentafluoroethane (CFC-115), and small amounts of other fluorinated compounds.
HFC-227 is another valuable hydrofluorocarbon. One known starting material for the production of HFC-227 is hexafluoropropene (CF3CF═CF2, HFP). HFP can be hydrofluorinated with hydrogen fluoride (HF) in the presence of a suitable catalyst to form HFC-227 and other byproducts. Typically, in the final step of HFC-227 purification, these byproducts are separated out by simple distillation.
CFC-115 is an undesirable compound because it contains chlorine, and, as a result, its use is highly regulated. Thus, in the production of HFC-125 for commercial use, it is necessary to separate HFC-125 from CFC-115. Unfortunately, the mixture of HFC-125 and CFC-115 forms a near-azeotrope. At high concentrations of HFC-125, the relative volatility of HFC-125 to CFC-115 is close to 1.0, making recovery of pure HFC-125 from a mixture of HFC-125 and CFC-115 by simple distillation difficult.
An azeotrope is a liquid mixture that exhibits a maximum or minimum boiling point relative to the boiling points of its components. An azeotrope is homogeneous if only one liquid phase is present. An azeotrope is heterogeneous if more than one liquid phase is present. Regardless, a characteristic of azeotropes is that the bulk liquid composition is identical to the vapor composition in equilibrium therewith, and distillation of the azeotropic mixture is ineffective as a separation technique. For the purposes of this discussion, a near-azeotrope means a composition which behaves like an azeotrope (i.e., has constant-boiling characteristics or a tendency not to fractionate upon boiling or evaporation). Thus, the composition of the vapor formed during boiling or evaporation of such compositions is the same as or substantially the same as the original liquid composition. Hence, during boiling or evaporation, the liquid composition, if it changes at all, changes only to a minimal or negligible extent. This is to be contrasted with non-azeotrope compositions in which during boiling or evaporation, the liquid composition changes to a substantial degree.
Accordingly, the essential features of an azeotrope or a near-azeotrope are that at a given pressure, the boiling point of the liquid composition is fixed and that the composition of the vapor above the boiling composition is essentially that of the boiling liquid composition (i.e., no fractionation of the components of the liquid composition takes place). It is recognized in the art that both the boiling point and the weight percentages of each component of the azeotropic composition may change when the azeotrope or near-azeotrope liquid composition is subjected to boiling at different pressures. Thus, an azeotrope or a near-azeotrope may be defined in terms of the unique relationship that exists among components or in terms of the compositional ranges of the components or in terms of exact weight percentages of each component of the composition characterized by a fixed boiling point at a specified pressure. It is also recognized in the art that various azeotropic compositions including their boiling points at particular pressures may be calculated (see, e.g., W. Schotte, Ind. Eng. Chem. Process Des. Dev. 1980, 19, pp 432–439). Experimental identification of azeotropic compositions involving the same components may be used to confirm the accuracy of such calculations and/or to modify the calculations for azeotropic compositions at the same or other temperatures and pressures.
It is known that pure HFC-125 as a near-azeotropic mixture with CFC-115 can be recovered by a process of extractive distillation. In this process, a suitable extracting agent that changes the relative volatility of a component or the azeotrope is used. Examples of extracting agents used in the purification of HFC-125 are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,087,329 and 5,928,479.
Extractive distillation processes for the purification of HFC-125 usually include a step of separating the extracting agent from either HFC-125 or CFC-115 subsequent to the completion of the extractive distillation. This additional separation process may add to the cost of HFC-125 production even though the extracting agent may be reused.